Councillor banned after refusing to do breath test

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pavarotti1980 said:
And probably didnt know his car was stolen until plod knocked on his door.

People sometimes tell the police lies, such as crashing car whilst drunk and claiming it was nicked
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If he'd answered the door pissed wearing muddy boots then fair enough. From Jon's description there I sensed a bit of attitude from the police which shouldn't have been there unless there was obvious evidence he had been driving.
 
marsey said:
Sounds like a canny bloke...

Conservative councillor Jeff Milburn expelled from party after accusation he used racist language towards colleague

What if you had failed the breath test?
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I would have been in the running for being charged with crashing the car while drunk and leaving the scene.
zinedine said:
Didn't they need at least some proof you were driving before treating you like a criminal, instead of a victim?
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They were perfectly nice about it all but told me straight away that they thought I'd crashed the car. My negative sample was met with frowns and shrugs.
 
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zinedine said:
If he'd answered the door pissed wearing muddy boots then fair enough. From Jon's description there I sensed a bit of attitude from the police which shouldn't have been there unless there was obvious evidence he had been driving.
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Seemingly not. You dont have to be pissed to be over the limit. And sometimes people change from muddy boots before getting into bed :)
JonMc said:
They were perfectly nice about it all but told me straight away that they thought I'd crashed the car. My negative sample was met with frowns and shrugs.
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pavarotti1980 said:
Seemingly not. You dont have to be pissed to be over the limit. And sometimes people change from muddy boots before getting into bed :)
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Polite but insistent. The point was that I either took the test on my doorstep or I would have been charged. I suppose if I had been drinking it would have been up to me to provide proof that someone had been with me drinking all night as an alibi.
 
pavarotti1980 said:
Na i think they have powers to enter property without warrant.

Google says s.17 PACE gives them power of entry without warrant for the purposes of arresting someone under section 4 (driving etc. when under influence of drink or drugs) or 163 (failure to stop when required to do so by constable in uniform) of the Road Traffic Act 1988;
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The road traffic act also gives a power of entry and arrest outside of PACE, thinks it’s a section 6 subsection or might be 7. Needs to be an RTC resulting in injury though which from a crash and description of drive slumped over the wheel would give reasonable suspicion of injury.

Sounds like he is going for the medical route and that the custody officer should have given him the option of giving blood. That is entirely down to the custody officer, a doctor can be consulted but the decision remains with the sergeant. The evidential sample is only something like one litre of breath so pretty much everyone is able to provide unless they have a serious medical condition
JonMc said:
Polite but insistent. The point was that I either took the test on my doorstep or I would have been charged. I suppose if I had been drinking it would have been up to me to provide proof that someone had been with me drinking all night as an alibi.
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It would have been up to the CPS to prove you were driving
 
duff_man said:
Sounds like he is going for the medical route and that the custody officer should have given him the option of giving blood. That is entirely down to the custody officer, a doctor can be consulted but the decision remains with the sergeant. The evidential sample is only something like one litre of breath so pretty much everyone is able to provide unless they have a serious medical condition
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Trying to pull a fast one with medical condition and its not been believed
 
duff_man said:
It would have been up to the CPS to prove you were driving
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Of course but the two officers were obviously expecting me to fail and they were ready to arrest me on suspicion. The test result made for a visible mood change in the hallway.
 
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JonMc said:
Polite but insistent. The point was that I either took the test on my doorstep or I would have been charged. I suppose if I had been drinking it would have been up to me to provide proof that someone had been with me drinking all night as an alibi.
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I don't think that would have been enough evidence to convict you. There is no strong evidence that you crashed your car. Purely circumstantial. Although miscarraiges of justice have happened, and will continue to.
 
JonMc said:
Of course but the two officers were obviously expecting me to fail and they were ready to arrest me on suspicion. The test result made for a visible mood change in the hallway.
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You would be surprised how many times a car is crashed and left abandoned and then half an hour later a drunk person rings the police as they have just noticed their car has been nicked.
 
duff_man said:
You would be surprised how many times a car is crashed and left abandoned and then half an hour later a drunk person rings the police as they have just noticed their car has been nicked.
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I do understand. I would have been my first thought too.
Kent_Mackem said:
I don't think that would have been enough evidence to convict you. There is no strong evidence that you crashed your car. Purely circumstantial. Although miscarraiges of justice have happened, and will continue to.
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They could have made a case against me though. If I'd been drinking home alone I might have been in a spot of bother.
 
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If the cops needed a warrant to enter your home to breathalyse you, it would be a foot race down your street until you dived through the door yelling "SAFE!"

... then flicking the Vs through the curtains for 5 minutes.
 
JonMc said:
They could have made a case against me though. If I'd been drinking home alone I might have been in a spot of bother.
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They'd maybe have taken you in for a chat but I doubt they would charge you as the CPS would still not have enough evidence to convict. Nobody can prove you were drink driving as you were not. As a credible witness your defence will be also sensibly considered. If there was an independent witness, speed camera photo or you'd left fingerprints (or semen) on the gatepost etc... then that would be a different matter.
 
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